When the truth is told
by Loz06
Summary: Neil. Andrea. Sequel to 'When work takes over'. Andrea comes clean about Smithy, Louise and Phil offer advice, Yvonne and Gina’s suspicions are fed but its Neil’s reaction to Andrea’s admission that hurts the most.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: When the truth is told

**Author**: Loz

**E-Mail**: loz06(at)yahoo(dot)com

**Rating**: T

**Category**: Neil.Andrea...Who else? Oh and the supporting cast, can't forget them.

**Series**: Story number twenty five. What follows are titles and story ID numbers:

_**(1) **After he's at her door – 2486705 **(11)** When they're back together – 2619492_

_**(2) **When the mighty fall – 2506192 **(12) **Life almost in balance – 2630121_

_**(3) **While his wife's away – 2525486**(13) **Life under pressure – 2666280_

_**(4) **While they're away – 2543010 **(14) **Trying to have a life together – 2699235_

_**(5) **When love's not working – 2543013 **(15) **Outside influences on their lives – 2704730_

_**(6) **Boundaries when broken up – 2562611 **(16) **When things start falling apart – 2727112_

_**(7) **What happens on the train – 2579012 **(17)** When they're approaching the end again - 2750079_

_**(8) **When they work together – 2595808 **(18) **Trying not to drift apart – 2891564_

**_(9)_** _When she wants him back – 2598312 **(19)** When the truth comes out - 2912317_

_**(10) **When they're stuck together – 2611364 **(20) **How things are going to be – _2954769

_**(21) **When they work together…again – 2959211 **(22)** When Andrea moves on – 3181250_

**_(23)_** _Heart decided – 3188794 **(24) **When work takes over – 3198959_

_**(25) **When the truth is told - 3199261_

**Spoilers**: So minor it shouldn't ruffle any feathers.

**Archive** (if applicable): www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(slash)loz06

**Feedback**: The good, the bad and the very ugly it's all appreciated.

**Summary: **Andrea comes clean about Smithy, Louise and Phil offer advice, Yvonne and Gina's suspicions are fed but its Neil's reaction to Andrea's admission that hurts the most.

**Disclaimers**: Truth be told…I don't own The Bill, no big surprises there.

* * *

In his office Neil drops involuntarily into his chair, shock still reverberating through him though it's slowly wearing away. After all he had suspected and what he's just seen confirms those suspicions. He starts to sink low into himself, worried he's lost her, telling himself she's moved on, questioning the decisions and actions he took in the last months. 

He tells himself he didn't try hard enough to re-establish communication between them and the more he blames himself the lower he sinks, quickly moving towards depression.

He thinks maybe he should feel hurt but then he made it clear it was over between them.

The inclination to get downstairs urgently and tell Smithy to back off and Andrea he can't be without her, just isn't there, he's just too low.

"Couldn't you find me?" Neil looks up instantly to the sound of the Super's voice.

"No Sir." Neil shifts in his chair, trying to drag his mood up.

"Has Jack brought you up to date about these documentary makers Andrea Dunbar has here?" Neil looks away, out the window into the yard and the street beyond, he tries to keep the pain off his face but fails and he feels lost, unable to form coherent sentences. "Neil are you alright?" There's no denying Adam Okaro is concerned.

"No Sir, I don't feel well, with your permission I'd like to head home." Neil's words falter and are fragmented.

"Yes, go." Okaro says with a measure of urgency, he watches Neil till he's out of sight, wondering if this has anything to do with his morning off.

Behind his desk Phil Hunter and Suzie Sim look up from their work; their eyes follow their boss until he's out of CID. Phil puts the turbulent state of Neil down to something else. Suzie wonders for a moment, her focus dragged back to her work by Phil.

* * *

"Andrea." Reg calls saving her from further searching, she'd grabbed another cup of coffee but still felt sluggish. Smithy had put a dampener on her mood, heaped on top of the fact she hadn't come across Neil yet. 

"Ready?" Andrea sighs realising she need be a little happier about the fact she's moving away from Smithy and hopefully back to Neil soon.

"When you are," Leela smiles, seemingly focused despite the camera that could soon be in her face. The afternoon is quiet, Andrea chats with Leela and Reg as they progress down the High Street and her lethargy disappears now she's doing something. Their radios stay silent and the market area hums with undisturbed business.

Andrea's phone, towards the end of the shift is the closest thing they come to a disturbance. Louise's number flashes across the screen and Andrea smile knowing Louise wouldn't have been able to resist but she won't like the news.

"You're not going to like it." Andrea comes straight out and says it, she drops back from her colleagues and cameramen, keeping a low voice.

"Oh no, what?" Louise's enthusiasm is gone.

"I haven't seen him all day and I haven't had time to go searching for him." Andrea looks up from the path to make sure her conversation hasn't captured anyone's attention.

"So he's not in the station at all." Louise questions.

"I don't know, I haven't had a chance to ask any subtly probing questions." Andrea lets a tiny bit of frustration enter her voice. "I have managed to step back from Smithy though and everything else is going well here."

"I suppose that's something, you wanna get a drink tonight and talk about the whole Nile and Smithy thing?"

"No I'm beat, I'm just going to go home and collapse, I can't believe how this has taken it out of me and I've got to get up and do it again tomorrow."

"You want someone else there helping?" Louise offers.

"No thanks, I've got enough people to manage already." Andrea laughs to hide the stress.

"You haven't forgotten I need a report for each day of this week on the who, what, where, when's and why's." Louise is apologetic in her tone for the extra work.

"Another reason I can't have a casual drink with you tonight." Andrea sighs, after today she'll need to relax.

"Call me tomorrow." Louise says as Andrea notices Reg take a radio call, after a few seconds Leela starts to run.

"I've got to go, something's happened." Andrea says hastily and hangs up. As she runs after the cameramen who are already filming she now knows this will be a longer afternoon than she first thought.

* * *

"We got there too late but something had happened, the alley was a mess." Reg explains as Andrea stops typing up her report for Louise, it had taken her three attempts to type the word procedure before Reg arrived, a sure sign she was tired and needed to go home. "A guy called Richard Wood runs drugs in the area, slippery bugger; I've never quite been able to get my hands on him." 

"Thanks Reg." Andrea smiles genuinely but most of her just wants him gone so she can finish her report and get home. When he's gone Andrea resumes typing…badly. She strains to remember the details of the day; this morning feels like a week ago. Phil Hunter pokes his head in as she's about to finish, looking for someone who's not in the room. He's gone with the speed of which he appeared. Andrea pushes back in her chair and moves after him with new energy. Phil is closer to Neil than anyone than perhaps her and its arms length at best.

"Phil," She calls from two steps out the door, no one's around, first names are fine. He turns and walks back towards her.

"Is the DI around?" To his credit Phil doesn't visibly react but Andrea still feels the need to add. "Don't bother reading anything into it."

"He holds his hands up to proclaim his innocence, not the first person to do so today. "Only women do that." He smirks. "Besides if it was personal you would have called him Neil given we're alone."

"He's gone for the day, he was only here for a few minutes after the morning off, got to his office and the Super came to see him, then he went home." It trips all sorts of concerns in Andrea. "He looked troubled, sad or something. It's probably the divorce." Unless Philippa decided to fight it, Andrea knows that reasoning is unlikely. "Before you ask, no I don't know where he was this morning." Andrea becomes distracted, scanning for possible reasons for Neil's behaviour, she comes up with nothing. She looks back to Phil to see him open his mouth but hold himself back.

"What is it Phil?" She prompts.

"No, you asked me to stay out of it." Phil says firmly but Andrea isn't going to let it fly when it could be relevant.

"What is it?"

"He wants to get back together with you." Phil deliberately leaves out Smithy, not knowing if it's true or not.

"Yeah, I know." Andrea says, happy but her words twinged with sadness. Phil nods and starts to walk away again. Andrea goes after him and blocks his path.

"Did you know he applied for a DCI's job at the time Philippa was leaving for the USA?" It stops Phil in his tracks.

"What is it Andrea?" She hopes it's a guess there's more.

"It's a lot of things, today should be our twelve month anniversary, what he said to me about not being interested in anyone else, this job that he didn't get so why is he still here, the fact he's been absent today."

"I would have thought he chose to stay for you." Phil states what's obvious to an outsider, between her and Neil at the time there was much more going on.

"There's something else." Andrea shakes her head, "Thanks Phil." She has a report that needs finishing and she desperately needs at least eight hours sleep. It'll all keep.

* * *

"Guv your phone's ringing." Suzie says steeping uncertainly just inside Neil's office. 

There's a delayed reaction from Neil who continues to stare outside his window before saying, "Thanks Suzie." He doesn't look where he reaches, the handset knocks out of the cradle and the last of his distraction dissolves.

"DI Manson." He answers, straightening the few things that were disturbed on his desk.

"Mr. Manson, this is Melanie Carter from Anderson Fitzpatrick Lawson," The same overly friendly voice, compensating for working in a place that facilitates the dissolution of marriages.

"Can you hang on a minute?" Neil doesn't really give her a choice, clamping his hand immediately over the bottom of the phone. "Come back in five minutes, could you close the door after you?" He asks of Suzie.

"Guv," Suzie complies and when she's gone Neil takes a breath before removing his hand from the phone.

"Sorry about that." Neil says though he's really not.

"This is just an update call Mr. Manson, I'm calling to let you know the court has received the acknowledgement from the respondent, it will be returned to us in due course." Her cheeriness starts to irritate Neil.

"Can I ask how the respondent replied?" Never in his life has he asked a question so hesitantly, not even when he asked Philippa to marry him.

"The respondent indicated they won't be defending the divorce," Still cheerful and Neil feels relieved for some reason. Not that he ever doubted Philippa's promise but there's something comforting about hearing it out loud.

A scene flashes in front of his minds eye. Andrea's apartment… "What do you want Neil?"… "You, I want you." The last time he was this hesitant.

"We will need you to come into the offices in the coming weeks and complete the next step, the affidavit. Or we can courier the paperwork over to you."

"You'll let me know when." Neil pushes formality into his voice.

"We'll give you a call, thanks for your time." Neil puts the phone down without a parting greeting. This time is easier, he's used to the calls from out of the blue, he's used to the divorce plodding along towards finalisation… he gets straight back to work.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Downstairs Andrea picks up the phone in the sergeants office, June Ackland had given up her space so Andrea could have some privacy. She had been a little liberal with the truth about the nature of the call but no harm would come. It was her last day at Sun Hill and thankfully the relief were now used to the cameras and filming style so there was little need for her to be out on the street.

She punches Louise's number, a daily progress call but today she needs to purge something else as well. She bypasses the bitchy secretary with ease and counts the rings until Louise picks up.

"Louise," Andrea sighs pressing her hands to her forehead.

"I thought maybe you'd signed up for uniform at Sun Hill again, I haven't heard from you since Monday." Anyone else would be annoyed. "I hope you have a lot to tell me." From her tone she doesn't mean work related.

"He hasn't been here all week." Andrea says simply though sounding somewhat upset.

"But he's there today." Louise pushes.

"Yeah he's here today."

"So why are you talking to me then?" Louise asks her like her actions are the stupidest in the world.

"Because I have 3 days worth of reports to do and I haven't called you since Monday." Andrea says stating the obvious.

"Forget them, that's an order." Louise insists and Andrea gets what she needs, a push and encouragement. "End of conversation I'm hanging up."

True to her word she does and Andrea sits and talks herself into getting up and going to Neil's office as Yvonne and Steve walk past with a cameraman.

She could jump on that and supervise it but really she's only looking for excuses, she doesn't know why she wants to avoid seeing or talking to Neil.

"Hey Andrea," Sheelagh greets as the two women pass each other outside the sergeants office Sheelagh used to inhabit. Outside the briefing room Gabriel loiters and Andrea can't help feeling the air get cooler.

"Everything going smoothly?" Gina asks on the run, more of a statement than a question she wanted to reply to. Andrea answers with a quick nod.

At the bottom of the stairs she sees his polished shoes first, taping their way down the upper section of the stairs. Andrea swallows and walks up, hoping they'll meet half way. When they're three steps away she glances at him and he at her, there's nothing in either of their looks, Andrea stops but Neil keeps descending.

"Can I talk to you?" Andrea asks, suddenly afraid he will bite her head off or ignore her altogether. The question stops him.

"There'll be an empty room along here." Neil says levelly and whatever he was about to do can apparently wait.

The room he picks is dark and musty, her eyes undergo shock as she goes from the bright corridor to the dark room which is then flooded with light. That does nothing to chase away the smell. They both stand uncomfortably, it's the situation, things unsaid and feelings that grow stronger for each other each day. Andrea knows she should have planned what she was going to say.

"I've been looking for you all week." Andrea leaves out any desperation she experienced at the time in her tone. "To talk," She adds clearing up any questions he might have about her reasoning.

"I took some time off to spend with Colin before he goes back to the US." Neil rubs his forehead; he hasn't looked her in the eye yet.

"How's he going?" Andrea asks casually trying to put him at ease.

"He's good, fine." Her attempts don't work; she takes a moment to work herself up to the question she needs to ask.

"Do you regret saying you weren't interested in anyone but me?" The trepidation and vulnerability in her voice is no act. She waits for his answer and for his eyes to meet hers.

"That depends on your next answer." She gets the eye contact that she wants but not the answer. "You and Smithy are close." The statement floors her, she was not expecting it and the same sinking sick feeling in the pit of her stomach is back. In the past twelve months it's accompanied her through Bruce's demands, meetings with Philippa and the times she lied to him. The how he found out doesn't matter to her, his reaction she dreads and already she's angry with herself beyond words for what she's done to him again.

There's no fear this time, she surprises herself with that fact, whatever his decision she decides then and there not to accept anything negative without a fight. It's her turn to sigh and rub her brow, wondering how she's possibly going to word this and hopefully minimise any hurt, it won't happen…she knows.

"I don't know…I don't know what I'm doing Neil." While it sums up her current situation to an extent, she knows it's not the answer to his statement.

"That doesn't answer my statement." Neil echoes her thoughts, maintaining their looks across the room to one another.

"I've gone and done it again, I've betrayed you, I'm using Smithy. It's a mess, I'm a mess." She was for a reaction as Neil absorbs her admission.

"I didn't think you'd ever want me again." Her words are soft and honest, though she knows excuses are likely to make little difference to what she's done.

"Do you love him?" The words are neutral, said without emotion. Andrea desperately wants to read something from his body language but Neil's not giving anything away.

"No, not anywhere near." Andrea shakes her head, putting insistence into her voice. "Smithy and I, we started going out as friends, to cheer one another up. You need to know I kissed him a few times and I slept with him twice. I'm telling you because I don't want to lie to you anymore, ever again."

"I don't know what to say…or think." He says plainly, giving Andrea the hope that she still has a chance; he could have gone the other way.

Andrea takes a moment to gather herself for what she wants to say. "I. love. You. Neil. I'm utterly lost without you. I want you." She adds strength and determination to her last affirmation. "Smithy doesn't come anywhere near you. I want you to know I wasn't cheating on you, it was never my intention, it didn't happen out of spite or bitterness. The first time with Smithy I was drunk and missing you. I honestly didn't think there'd ever be a chance for us again and then you said there was and I felt like I'd betrayed you."

"How would you feel if I said those words of yours to you?" Finally there's emotion, neutral composure giving way to something more, something deeper.

"I understand that you feel angry, hurt and betrayed again, all those things…I don't blame you, you're right to feel that way, totally justified. Bruce Malcolm told me I'd betray someone again as I did him and it turns out he's right." The last words were hard to say.

"It's important that you know I didn't do anything with Smithy to hurt you, I needed an escape, an upfliting from my depression, from knowing I'd stuffed up and we were over and I deserved it. I told Smithy on Monday that it's over." A small lie, in truth she's moving towards letting him down…gently.

"That day in the park, when you left, what was that?" Andrea knew he'd ask, he's need to know.

"I was stunned and overjoyed but I didn't know if you wanted to see that and I was worried about this things with Smithy. You just said you weren't interested in anyone else, not that you wanted to give us another go."

"You couldn't have given me time?" His tone is full of pain.

Andrea checks her reply through her head first. "You never asked for it." She says carefully not wanting to upset him and then rushes the rest so he knows the context of her words. "You said it was over, that's it. I would have thrown me out of your flat."

"I did." Neil smile as it takes them both back to that night.

"Not as politely as you did," Andrea says softly. "I still love you Neil, always have, and always will. I understand and if you don't think you can get past this."

"You said that already." Neil says barely.

"It's the kind of thing you can't hear enough from me." Andrea knows her brown eyes are looking sadly at his, it's not for effect, and she can't help it. "I know I would be angry if the tables were turned right no w."

"It's over then?" Neil switches back to neutral and Andrea immediately panics, sure he's talking about them – for goof this time, "With you and Smithy."

Everything that was so heightened in her and ready to fight drops. "It hardly began." She informs him with certainty.

"I have so much on my plate right now, Colin is about to go back to the US." Andrea nods, anything she says that asks him to put everything else aside would be selfish and a liberty she has no right to take. "My divorce is almost final and a part of me thinks I pushed you to him."

"No, you didn't, it was my doing." Andrea goes to step closer but the door opens, it doesn't stop the look of alarm on her face about the conclusion he has just come to.

"I'm sorry," Gina Gold says and Andrea searches her memory for a knock, it's there albeit brief and as the door was opened. "Amber is in a mess out here, she needs you." Andrea's eyes connect with the Inspector's as she wills her out of the room. When she's gone Neil speaks first.

"I need to go, so do you." He doesn't wait for her approval, heading for the door.

"You and this job were the only two things that made sense in my life." Her voice stops Neil, his back still to her as the feeling in her words sinks in. "Because of me I've had to move sideways and off the street away from the job I love and I don't have you. I love you, you're it, and there won't ever be anyone else that comes close… No one ever made me feel like you did. All those times I felt under pressure or I was sad, happy, upset, you were there to help me out of it or you were the reason I was happy… content. My turning to Smithy for support was not your doing."

"I have to go." Neil says not turning.

"Gina Gold is probably wondering what on earth is going on." Andrea says with a smile. "There's more that needs to be said." Back to serious.

"Canely Arms tonight, seven thirty." Neil turns around and looks to her.

"I'll be there." Andrea nods, letting him go. "Do you know what last Monday would have been if I hadn't have destroyed everything?" She doesn't wait for him to request an answer, "You and me for twelve months."

Neil leaves without acknowledgement.

Yvonne Hemmingway notices DI Manson coming out of the seldom used room out of the corner of her eye as she chats with Leela. It doesn't go unnoticed as Andrea follows a few moments later only to have Amber immediately latch onto her. From the door to her office Gina Gold watches the comings and going. She shoots Yvonne a knowing glance about Neil and Andrea. The look she gets back says 'leave it alone'.

* * *

"This is Melanie Carter from Anderson Fitzpatrick Lawson, Mr. Manson." The bright and cheerful voice says, inside Neil sinks, this is the absolute last thing he wants today, he stays silent. "Mr. Manson?" 

"Yes I'm here." Neil says dreading what's coming next.

"Your affidavit has been written up, we just need you to come in and sign it before we forward it to the court. I can have it couriered over if there's not a convenient time today." Neil assumes after his manner today no one will be unhappy to see him out of the office early.

"What's the latest I could come by?" He scribbles absently on his notepad.

"Someone will be here till around nine." Melanie Carter informs him, the last thing Neil wants is to be found crying at his desk over another piece of divorce paperwork. Especially by Andrea considering the conversation they've just had. If he signs in the solicitor's office he can cry in the privacy of his car when it's done if he needs to.

"I'll be around tomorrow." He can't face it today after everything else that's gone on.

"Thank you Mr. Manson." Melanie Carter signs off but Neil realises there was something else he wanted to ask.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Andrea sits alone at the Canely Arms until eight thirty. For the first half hour she tells herself he's been delayed with work, for the fifteen minutes after that her confidence in his turning up bottoms out. At a quarter past eight the middle aged man behind the bar puts a beer in front of her and for a split second her hopes rise thinking it's from Neil and he's going to sit down next to her any minute.

"On the house, you look like you need something to drown your sorrows in."

Andrea looks up and says a quiet thanks, she has no intention of drinking it, it won't make her feel any better.

"It's an old and crappy saying but there are plenty of fish in the sea." It does nothing to make Andrea feel better, though she smiles gratefully and it has the desired effect, he steps away.

There's only one type of fish for Andrea and he's become endangered, fault lies squarely with her.

At eight thirty she leaves the beer on the counter and her seat. In the cab on the way home Smithy calls then Louise, she ignores both. She has two messages on her home phone, as soon as Louise and Smithy identify themselves she deleted the message without listening to their contents.

Neil never calls.

* * *

Suzie looks across to Neil's office as she slides her last bit of paperwork into her unofficial done pile. Her DI looks just as she had a few moments ago; buried in work, by his choice or not she's not sure. For a moment she wonders if she should go in and say goodnight, jokingly comment on the amount of work he's been doing since Christmas and encourage him to go home. 

Then again she's not sure where they stand at Sun Hill, Stafford Row was different. She picks up her bag and jacket, her light turning out the only goodnight to Neil.

"Burning the midnight oil, last to leave," Gina Gold comments from the middle of the stairs, she takes each step wearily.

"Oh no, the DI is still in his office." Suzie puts her jacket on. "I guess he's avoiding his house."

"Why's that?" Gina asks getting to the top.

"The divorce and everything," Suzie shrugs.

"His wife is overseas," Gina says seriously.

"Oh," Suzie knows she never gets the gossip; she's not interested so people don't bother telling her. That's the way she wants to be known, still she can't help but be concerned for Neil, and after all he's helped her out so much in the past. Gina starts to walk towards the Super's office.

"Exactly how many late nights has he been doing?" Gina asks as an afterthought and turns back to Suzie.

"I'd call it burning the candle at both ends, it's not just late nights, he's here early in the mornings too." Suzie recalls.

"How often?" Suzie cannot imagine Gina's questioning is anything beyond professional concern.

"A lot, since before Christmas," Suzie knows the timing corresponds with the start of his divorce, that much gossip she overheard. "But then other time he leaves early."

"Perhaps he'd like to come downstairs and do my shift too." Gina deflects with a small joke and Suzie laughs politely.

"Goodnight." Suzie wishes getting the same wish back from the uniformed Inspector. Gina Gold doesn't make any connections to anything associated with Andrea.

* * *

"Guv," Phil says immediately after the phone picks up. 

"Unless it's an emergency Phil I can't talk now." Neil can't help but sound short.

"Where are you?" Phil asks then realises he shouldn't have.

"Out on personal business," Neil says looking across to the table with its simple paper set out for him to sign.

"I'm sorry Guv, it's none of my business." Phil backs down.

"I'll be back in a half hour." Neil says before hanging up.

"What do I need this for?" Neil sighs stepping over to sit opposite Melanie Carter, a face finally put to the voice.

"This goes to the court, it confirms the details of the divorce are correct and that the signature of the respondent on the acknowledgements are correct. "More squiggles of the hand to end things Neil thinks. "You can't move forward without this Mr. Manson, it has to be sworn and returned to the court with a request that the court consider the evidence and decide if the matter should proceed." Neil worries that their reasoning is flimsy though it doesn't matter so much anymore, he could wait two years, there's no rush with respect to Andrea.

"What do I check and where do I sign?" Neil says deciding to get it over with. He's slowly numbed to the whole process.

* * *

"Phil, my office," Neil yells above the noise of CID. No one else has noticed his return, much less absence. Phil Hunter drops his legs from his desk, ignoring the shooting look from Suzie. "What was it you wanted to talk about?" Neil asks as he hangs up his coat, Phil quietly closes the door. 

"Just an update on the case I'm working on." Phil watches as Neil surveys the new contents of his desk.

"Mmm-Hmm," Neil says seemingly disconnected from the conversation.

"It can wait." Phil tries to back out, he misinterprets Neil's ambivalence.

"She was seeing Smithy," Neil's head shoots up and Phil's interest is instantly back. The mmm-hmm was Neil stopping the work related conversation from going further, not that he was distracted by the work on his desk.

"Right," Phil says not quite sure what to do with the information and what Neil expects from him now he knows. "Are you going to fight?"

"I mean she was, when I told her I was still interested, well she ended it." Anyone can tell from Neil's voice he's not sure.

"Was it serious?" Phil eases himself into a chair, Neil follows.

"She says not," Again a distinct lack of confidence in his words.

"That's good." Phil tries to drag up the mood.

"I just came from further progressing my divorce. I'm sure the courts are going to turn down our reasons and make us wait two years." Immediately Phil scrambles to make connections between these words and Neil's last sentence.

"Is that an issue?" Is all Phil can find.

"No not really, I'm just all over the place." And have been for a while Phil thinks to himself. He has to hand it to Neil though; at work he's maintained his high standard of professionalism and efficiency.

"I've said this before; you get yourself in order first, but don't let her forget you still want her back." Phil stands knowing the only place this conversation can go now is around in circles, as if has been before and continues to be.

"Did you apply for a DCI's job a little while back?" Phil asks remembering his conversation with Andrea, he leans forward in his chair, he was about to leave when he remembered.

"I threw my hat into the ring, which was about as much effort as I put into it, how did you know?" Now Phil has Neil's interest absolutely.

"Just talk," Phil tries to shrug it off.

"Here?" There seems to be concern in his voice.

"No." Phil now wants to leave; the last thing he wants is for Neil to know Andrea knows.

"I said I'd meet her at the Canely Arms a week ago tonight. I never showed." The statement of action stops Phil and has him turning back to look at Neil.

* * *

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late." Andrea says nearly tripping over Cally. Tea slops over the edge of her cup and down her blouse causing Andrea to curse. She stops and takes a breath to calm herself. At her feet Cally looks up with large brown concerned eyes. "I'm o.k., I'm together." Andrea reaches down to pat her pet but she has to blink away a tear. 

A week ago and a day today she'd come home from the Canely Arms and wandered dazed around her flat, doing odd jobs she'd put off and picking up things she'd neglected to put back, Cally had follows her through each step, Andrea's shadow.

She hadn't thought about his reasons much since that night, perhaps he couldn't just face her or it, whatever it is. He might not have had any more to say. He'd also made mention of time, needing some, she just would have appreciated a call or message to say he wasn't coming.

Then again she could admit there was a certain amount of crappy treatment she deserved to come to her from him.

"Louise is going to fire me." Andrea jokes to Cally as she changes her blouse.

Louise doesn't fire her but she is sitting in Andrea's chair when she gets to work. For once she actually dreads the conversation she's about to have, usually they're a source of reassurance. Dropping her bag alerts Louise to her presence, she swivels around in Andrea's chair looking pleased with herself, "You're late." She jibes.

"Small accident with some hot tea down my blouse," Andrea says trying not to sound too interested in a conversation.

"You've been avoiding me all this week." It's just the type of question Andrea had hoped to dodge.

"No. No I haven't. What makes you think that?" Andrea plays it cool putting a light pinch of curiosity in her voice.

"I know it's bad, if it were good you would have come and told me right away." There's smugness in her voice because she's right.

"Can I have my chair back?" Andrea sighs knowing there's no way she's going to get out of it now.

"It's that bad that you need to sit down?" Louise asks out of concern, relinquishing her occupation of the chair and grabbing another from the next desk.

"I told him everything about Smithy." Suddenly Andrea hears herself sounding very down.

"You stupid idiot," Louise exclaims loudly and Andrea quickly looks around to see whose interest has taken to the outburst. No one, "Why would you do that?"

"He already knew."

"How?" Louise leans in.

"Doesn't matter," Andrea says distracting herself by looking over the work on her desk.

Louise spins Andrea's chair around, surprising her into paying attention. "Tell me everything."

* * *

Later that night Neil pushes through another double swinging door, sixth cup of coffee in his hand. 

"Oooh you're dedicated." Gina Gold says rushing past, he vaguely recalls something about uniform presence around the pubs and clubs as an explanation for her still being here. He barely hears the questions, a little lost in self pity.

"Hey?" He tips his chin slightly, pretending he heard the statement.

"It's nearly midnight, haven't you got a home to go to?" Gina continues on her way, in another universe she'd take the opportunity to press him about Andrea, in this one Amber has stuffed up.

"Not sure." Neil says turning his head enough to see Gina out of the corner of his eye pass through the same door he just came through a moment ago. He keeps walking wondering what his words meant; just glad Gina was too busy to ingest anything properly.

He has a home, a flat or maybe subconsciously he doesn't think of it as a home, it's missing one person. More likely it sums up his position on so many things right now, job, marriage and Andrea; he just doesn't know what he's doing or where he's going.

* * *

To be continued…In the next story. Story ID - 


End file.
